Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative stated from Gaza this morning that the ceasefire reached between Hamas and Israeli authorities on Wednesday 21 November 2012 is at risk of being collapsed.
Israel has violated the ceasefire three times in the past two days, shooting live ammunition at civilians in the buffer zone along the southern border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. Most recently, Anwar Qdeih, 20-years old, was shot directly in the head by the Israeli army earlier this morning. An additional 23 civilians have been severely injured by live ammunition near the border fence since Wednesday’s agreement.
“This is a very serious violation of the ceasefire,” says Dr. Barghouti, who calls on the United States, and all other countries that helped in arranging the ceasefire, to exercise immediate and effective pressure on Israel to stop such contraventions.
“Israel’s actions threaten the sustainability of the ceasefire,” says Dr. Barghouti, “If they are not stopped at once, Israel’s runs a grave chance of completely collapsing the tenuous truce.”